Once Upon A Time
by RhiannonAmaris
Summary: A Labyrinth Avatar crossover. Once upon a time there was an evil young Princess. Azula wishes away her elder brother. Win him back? Don't be ridiculous. Young Zuko is trapped in the Goblin Kingdom. The story begins in truth. Chapter 1 up. Will be Zutara.
1. Prologue

I don't know where this came from. (_Bad_ Muse. _Bad_ Plot Bunnies. No biting. We do not bite.) Anyway this is a Labyrinth/Avatar crossover with a touch of Mercedes Lacey's Five Hundred Kingdom series (more in a touch of tone, that certain people and places exist to test, meddle and such). Will eventually be Zutara flavored.

Timing wise Ursa's disappeared, Onzia's Fire Lord, Azula's about eight and Zuko's about eleven.

Prologue

The young girl sneered at the beautifully illuminated scroll before she set it aflame. "Fairy tales! How tedious. Leave to stupid Uncle Iroh." The Princess' cruel brown eyes sparked with amusement, though.  
For there, frowning his unspoken disapproval, was her oh so proper, oh so stupid elder brother. Zuko, who took after and looked up to their annoying, weak uncle.

"As boring as that was there was one story that was almost interesting." Unknown and unfelt by her _something_ tensed.

_I think she's going to say it._

_  
Don't be daft, she isn't..._

_  
_"What was it about Azula?" There was wariness in the young Prince's voice, but a hint of hope as well. He did _so_ try.

_She's going to say the words._

_  
Oh, she is _**not**._ Let it go._

_  
_"There was a girl, a peasant I think, and she had to watch her younger brother. And he wouldn't stop crying so she wished him away to some monsters. Then it got stupid, she went and ran some kind of maze to win him back. _**I**_ just would have let them have the brat." She sighed, overly dramatically. "Pity such things aren't real."

_Oh Spirits._

_  
She's going to say it. She's really going to say it._

_  
_"Still, brother dearest, _almost_ interesting. If only that sort of thing worked." She shrugged. "I wish the goblins would come and take you away, _right now_." She spoke calmly, a cruel smile on her lips, enjoy the hurt that flitted across her brother's face and was swiftly buried.

"Very funn--"

_She said it._

_  
She said the words._

_  
That girl ain't _**Right**.

Thunder cracked as a sudden storm raged. Now it was an annoyance, in few hours it would be a bad omen, in years to come it would grow in the telling. The sky did grow dark though, but for lightings illumination. Strange, small shapes scurried in the corner of her eyes. Azula turned around, fists clenched and flaming. Her brother was gone. The most singular man she had ever seen stood there as if it was _his_ palace. He was tall, all angles and had wild, strange, pale hair. "You should be bowing."  
His expression of bored indifference grew a touch dark. "Not really, no. Kings outrank princesses and you are the one asking a boon of _me_." A crystal globe appeared with a flick of his fingers. "If you wish to win back your broth--"

"No." The eight year old royal had a sneer any of the Unseelie court would envy.

The Goblin King blinked, and then frowned. "To win back your brother you have to--"

"I said keep him." An evil grin cracked her lips. "With him gone I'm _Crown_ Princess."

"I see." He sighed. "Such a pity." He threw the globe at the girl, it burst into a shower of sparks that didn't burn and was then simply not there.

And now the Story began in earnest.

TBC

_Chapter One-The Prince adjusts to the new Court… _


	2. Chapter 1 In Which Zuko Meets A Great Ma

**Chapter 1-In Which Zuko Meets A King, A Queen, Various Strange Creatures, A Mouse, A Man Named Jack And A Very Distant Relation**

There was a flash of lightning as he began to reply to Azula's idea of a joke. Then he was someplace _else _and he couldn't _move._

"She said the words."

"Said the right words."

A myriad of strange creatures danced around a huge filthy chamber. Some were large, most were small, they were every shape imaginable and any shade of drab one could think of. They shouted and sang variations on the same thing. '_The words have been said'._ One of the things ran at him, then bounced off of something unseen when it got within a few inches of him.

A voice spoke behind him. "I was wondering about that." It was soft, female, young (a grown-up, but _young)_ and strangely accented. "A little worried really, since the King is off talking to the Questor and the Queen is in another part of the castle." There was a pause. "Oh, he can't move." There was movement in the corner of his eye. Then a young, brown haired woman of less than average height was smiling at him with kind eyes. She wore some kind of blue trousers and an odd high-necked brown tunic. "Don't worry; it's going to be fine. Your sister will run through the Labyrinth, and everything will be okay kiddo."

Another voice chuckled. "Mouse-Girl, you've been here three months. You could spend lifetimes here and not know what's going down." This one was male and reminded Zuko of a few of the guards he had begun to train with, wry and always just barely on the right side of respectful. The ones who called him 'lad' instead of 'Your Highness' on occasion. The ones from whom a grin and comment of 'not bad' meant more from than all the empty flattery of all the others. "We'll see how she does."

Now there was a third voice, female but not feminine particularly. "Actually it looks as if we won't." Whoever she was she was pissed off.

"What?" The young woman again, echoed by the man.

Then there was a flash of light and smoke, the creature went silent and a tall, thin, pale haired man stood before him. However that wasn't his primary concern. That was the fact he could move again and was toppling forward. The strangely dressed girl caught his shoulders. "Where am I?" He whirled around taking in everything. The other two voices belonged to a tallish wiry man with tanned skin and a woman with hair like flame. "Who are all you people. I am the heir to the Burning Throne. Get your hands off me peasant! You won't get away with--" Then as suddenly as the ability to move came back the ability to speak was gone.

"You don't have to be mean to people. I know it's upsetting and all, but..." A throat cleared and the girl glanced at the pale man. She let go and stepped away from the young prince. "Sorry Your Majesty. I'll just be over here, not talking."

"Do that." The strange man's voice made him think of a cat. "You, rude young man, are in an unusual situation." He began to pace. "This is most annoying. I never have liked it very much when the wished away isn't very young. It's different when they wish themselves away, of course. Usually it's a whole different set of hassles then." He glanced at the one called Mouse-Girl.

"Sorry." She squeaked.

"Actually you've been the least troublesome of those I've ever seen Margaret." A beautiful dark haired woman came in through a large entry way and the strange creatures parted for her. Her sparkling eyes turned towards Zuko. "There isn't anyone in the Labyrinth. Did the boy..."

Margaret/Mouse-Girl gasped and the man muttered under his breath. "Fuck. I hate it when this happens."

"No, he did not wish himself away, therein lays the problem, dearest. His sister's reaction to learning it was possible to win her brother back was, and I quote, 'No'. When I tried to finish the explanation she interrupted me and said 'I said keep him'. This means we must deal with the boy."

If Zuko had been paying attention he would have noticed a great many things, though who knows what he would have made of it in his state. He would have noticed the mildly annoyed look on the King's face, the concern on the Mouse's, the flash of anger on the man's, the righteous fury on the Queen's and the sorrow of the woman with flame like hair. However he summoned a fireball and threw it at the most obvious threat, the pale King. Or rather he tried to. The fire came to him and he threw it with all his might, but it never reached its target. Instead it came to the woman with hair like fire as if called. And her hair no longer was like fire, but was flame itself.

"Child of Agni, that was _not_ a wise course of action." Her eyes flashed, as gold as his own. "If it is quite alright with you, I will have a word with the boy Jareth." It was not a request.

"Lady Laisiar, I do not enjoy being given orders in my own court." The pale King drew himself up, his voice cold as ice. He summoned a crystal.

&&&&

It was darker than night. Zuko lit a small flame in his palm. The chamber (more a cave really), was small, no more than twenty paces across in any direction. There were no doors, no windows. There seemed to be a shaft in the ceiling, but there was no way he could reach it. He slowly slumped to the floor and sniffled. He wouldn't cry. He was a Prince of the Fire Nation, descendents of Agni did not cry.

&&&&

Sarah, the Goblin Queen (once upon a time plain old Sarah Williams), sighed. "Was that _really_ necessary Jareth?"

"Yes, it _really_ was." He didn't so much as glance at her. "Laisiar, my old friend, may I ask **what the hell you do think you are trying to do?**"

The Fire Spirit glared back. "Talk to the fool boy, I thought that was obvious." She had banked her flames, but the embers began to glow.

Young Margaret Green bit at her lip worriedly and looked from one to the other. Jack sighed and rubbed his temples. The Queen rolled her eyes.

"The wished away are my subjects. One of your brother's decedents or not, my boy is one of mine now."

"I'm not denying any of that. Farthest thing from it. If the boy knows who I am, if he will believe who I am, things might go easier."

Jareth raised an eyebrow "And what else?"

Laisiar ran her fingers through her hair. "He's one of the few members of his family that's been worth a damn in a hundred years... And those that are wished away, not ran for and too old to be fostered out are..."

Understanding lit the Fae's eyes. "Special cases." He nodded.

"The Avatar is a century late. If I'm given the opportunity to hedge my bets, I'm taking it."

"He's in the West Hedge Maze oubliette. Go fetch him and have your word."

The spirit nodded and left.

**"You put him where!"**

**&&&&**

A door that hadn't been there before opened. Zuko scrabbled to his feet. It seemed to be made for a small child, like one of the doors in the playhouse a Duke had given Azula for her birthday one year. (Which she had sneered at and ignored. He had thought it was quite nice.)

A figure bent over double ducked through the opening, and then glared at it. "He thinks he's funny." It was spoken so low he doubted he was meant to hear. It was the red haired woman again, the one who had caught his fireball. "How are you holding up lad?" She asked, not unkindly.

"Do you know who I am?" He stood up and managed to look as though he hadn't just scrambled to his feet. His face was smudged with dirt.

"Indeed I do." She sounded amused, but it could go over the edge to annoyed at any moment. "Prince Zuko of the House of Agni, of the Sozin Dynasty, son of Ursa and Onzai, heir to the Throne of Flames. For the time being at least. Can you answer the same question of me young man."

His eyes went wide as he recalled what the pale man had called her. No, it couldn't be. But, what part of this made any sense. His voice was as small as he felt. "Am I in the Spirit World Lady Laisiar?"

"Not exactly lad, not exactly." She sat down on the floor, legs crossed, elbow on knee, chin cradled in her hand. "Pull up a bit of floor, we need to talk, you and I... Well mostly I need to talk, you need listen. Questions are good though."

The young prince sat again and hugged his knees to his chest. "What happened then? Where are we?"

She shrugged. "To answer the second The Fields Beyond The Fields." She shrugged. "Sorry. The Realms of the Fae, the Kingdom of the Labyrinth to be specific. The Goblin Kingdom it's usually called, though that's less than accurate. It is more like the Spirit Realm than your world, but… Not. You were... wished away. Which means you are now a subject of this Kingdom and will remain so unless certain unlikely circumstances arise. I'm sorry, but you are one of the Goblin King's subjects now. Jareth can explain that sort of thing far better than I."

"What did they mean about 'the runner', 'the questor'? The one they called Mouse said something about Azula running the Labyrinth and everything would be fine." His voice was small.

Laisiar closed her eyes. This was the problem with becoming involved with mortals, one became_ involved_. At least she always did. Here was different, or had been. Now though, here was this boy who was not only of the World of Elemental Benders _(why oh why couldn't they come up with a name for their world_?), not only he was of the nation of her element, he was of her brother's bloodline. He was family. "If your sister had tried to win you back that probably have been the case." She paused; there wasn't a gentle way of putting this. "She didn't try however."

"I'm to become one of those... Creatures then." He held his head high and spoke with none of the fear shining in his eyes.

If Laisiar had not been one of the Great Elemental Spirits Zuko would have described the sound coming out of her as a giggle. "You think... You think Jareth..." She was gasping for breath. "Is going to turn you into a _goblin_! Oh my." She wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. "I'd love to know who started that old saw. I'd suspect it was Jareth, but he always seems annoyed when someone mentions it. Not that means he didn't knowing him though..." Seeing the puzzled look on his face she finally explained herself. "No, you are not going to be turned into a goblin or any other sort of beastie. You will remain as you are, be given work of some sort or another and maybe a position when you're a bit older. If you were a great deal younger you'd probably be adopted but Fae nobility, they don't have children as often as they would like. And I'm digressing and Himself is probably getting impatient. Up with you, it's a bit of a walk back to the Palace and Sarah is probably winding down." She stood, wiped off her breeches and straightened her tunic and armor. "Do you have a handkerchief?"

He nodded, took it out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Spit then. Don't look at me like that; you've got a smudge on your face." But she looked as awkward as he felt. "We have to keep appearances my lad."

"Yes Milady Laisiar."

She squirmed again. "You can call me Aunt if you'd like... Put a few hundred "Great"s in front of it and it's even accurate. Come on then, the King is waiting."

To Be Continued…

In Chapter 2 which will contain Proper Introductions, A Librarian Who Is Not An Orangutan and An Offer Of Apprenticeship.


End file.
